The Importance of Less

The Importance of Less by Cynthia M. Brown

I am here in my home. I am well. I still have a job during this pandemic. I have everything I need. I have actually done more grocery shopping in the last 9 days than I usually do in 5 weeks. We are being told to stay home; no dining out, no going to bars, movies, salons, gyms, concerts…. We cannot even visit with our friends and family. Video chats, facetime, zoom meetings are the only means we have of seeing one another….Odd, until a week ago most of us would rather send a text or post our photo on facebook than take the time to walk or drive to see someone at their home…

We are all suddenly afraid of shortages...not enough toilet paper, water, fresh meat, milk, money….. We have so much less to do without time… Our world has been reduced from the whole world, to the world of our homes and yards and for those of us lucky enough to still have a job, the world of our work place.

The world, the human world, anyway, is in the midst of a plague and we have all been ordered to stay home. The natural world is just awakening and now we suddenly have so much time to stop and pay attention to it. Of course, I could sit in front of network television and be bombarded with the local, state and federal updates on the pandemic followed by the local and national news about it. I could stream old movies or tv series I always wanted to watch but never had time for.. Or I can open my doors and windows and with the sun as my lamp and the breeze and the sounds of birds as my stereo, I can catch up on my reading. I can, for the first season since I planted it, sit and appreciate my weeping cherry tree and actually enjoy its gorgeous and all too brief flood of white blossoms. I can spend a lot of time giving my devoted little dog extra long walks and extra sessions of fetch in the yard.

Instead of dining out I can spend time in my kitchen learning to use gadgets I have been given but never take the time to use. I can finally catch up on stocking my freezer with my favorite quick meals, veggie burgers, lentil burgers, soups, cooked chicken for salad….. How Many times have I complained as I drove to the movies or dinner that I never had enough time to do any of those things?

So now, my consumer filled life has been reduced to the essentials. I drive to work and then home. I stop for milk or coffee if we need it on my way home. I have so much less to do but somehow, I have so much more to do. Spring is here. My basement is clean. My gardens are planned. Soon the flower beds will be cleaned. Seeds will be planted. I may even finish expanding my patio.

And when this is all over…. I hope businesses recover. I hope we all support those small businesses that are giving away their food and space to those in more need but I hope we also see that we need to remember how important this reset has been. What we spend our time, energy and hard earned money on matters. What matters is the fleeting beauty of the spring; the time we spend sharing a meal with our adult children who are as busy and unavailable as we are. What matters is really deciding what purchases are essential since we don’t know how long we will be working. What matters is actually spending in person face time with those we love NOW because there may not be an opportunity tomorrow or the day after that. What matters is really looking at what we really need in our lives and living that way every day not just when we are forced to do so for the sake of our own survival….

Maybe that is the key though. The pandemic is about the physical survival of people, but what about the rest of us? Our hearts, spirits, our souls? I have felt, even amid all the scary numbers and dire warnings, lighter and happier than I have in months, just being home and spending time with my family. Being over committed is a huge burden that, as long as there are stay at home orders, I no longer carry. I intend to make the most of it. Happy spring.